Evaporative cooling systems cool air through the evaporation of water. The temperature of dry air can be reduced through the phase transition of liquid water to water vapor. One such evaporative cooling system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,096 which describes an evaporative cooling system that incorporates plates with nested troughs. The plates wick water out of the trough. Water is added at a top trough to ensure sufficient amounts of water were present in the system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,705,096 is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.